The Underdark
by Zeal -X
Summary: Under the surface of the world lies a realm of destruction, of lies, and of chaos. What does this realm have in store for Zier Narshonebon? Read it and Find out. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Standing alone, ahead of his battalion, Zier scouted a cavern. His eyes glowing red as he watched with his infravision, he literally sees heat patterns. His ebony skin blending in perfectly with the darkness, he stroked his white mane and pulled his cloak tight around his neck. His cloak shifted to black from the red and silver colors of his house. Raised in the brutal society of Azalin, city of the Drow, the dark elves, the most evil and sadistic beings in all of the realms, Zier knew his place.

"What do you see?" A dark form crept up beside Zier. Zier didn't say a word. "House Narshonebon should be proud to have a loyal and skilled warrior such as you"

"I see nothing other than lieutenant Drezzen, who should think twice before making assumptions about house Narshonebon." replied Zier with a threatening smile.

Drezzen slips his hand down to the hilt of his sword and takes a step back. In the society of the Drow there is no respect for higher authority, only fear for what that authority may be able to do. In Drow military rank is acquired through elimination, not justification. For this reason Drezzen needed to take precaution around a menial private.

Zier dropped into a low crouch drawing his saber. Drezzen, likewise, drew his sword. "What do you see?" He queried.

"I don't see anything, I hear murlocs." Zier said teasingly. Drezzen threw Zier a questioning glance. "Ready for some fun?" Zier answers Drezzen's glance. He started off for the next tunnel where the sound was coming from. Hiding behind a stalagmite, he watched as the frog like goblinoids drew near. The murlocs were trying to be quiet, but a murloc's standard of silence is actually quite cacophonous to Drow ears.

As thirty plus murlocs clattered closer, Zier swiftly and silently made his way back to Drezzen.

"How many?" Drezzen asked.

"Thirty." Zier said stoically.

"Then we need to report it." Drezzen decided.

Just as Drezzen turned, heading back to the battalion, he felt a slice in his back as Zier's wicked dagger pierced his heart. His face contorted with both confusion and anguish as his lungs tried vainly to fill with air. "I'll be reporting this one alone." Zier said wiping the blood off of his blade.


	2. Chapter 2

"Where is Drezzen?" asked Aira, a female cleric and as such ranking high in the Drow society.

"Dead… murlocs." Zier stated soberly.

"How many?" She interrogated.

"Thirty." Zier said, trying to keep his words brief and few while speaking to the dangerous cleric.

Aira's eyes darted to the floor then back to Zier.

"Very well, gather the battalion and prepare an ambush, lieutenant Zier."

Zier strutted through the ranks of Drow, receiving several inquisitive glances. He stroked his white hair out of his eyes. "A band of murlocs has been seen in a cavern less than a mile south." He said flatly, not needing to raise his voice due to the acute hearing of his Drow company. "We're to prepare an attack. So gather up; we move in an hour."

Jurth Daxtonan, brother of Drezzen whom he did not know to be dead, stood face to face with Zier. "I was unaware that we were taking commands from a private."

Zier's saber flashed out of its sheath and slapped Jurth on the neck, its edge drawing a line of blood under his chin. "You don't; you do however take orders from a lieutenant." Zier's red eyes glowed as they watched the warm blood run along the edge of his blade.

He wasn't further challenged as he assembled order in his battalion.


	3. Chapter 3

The murlocs were trying to be cautious, but their fate was already sealed. The Drow were waiting.

After most of the murlocs had entered the cavern one let out a shrill cry of agony as he was impaled by a gleaming, Drow-made javelin. Dropping to the ground it gurgled blood spewing from its mouth.

Zier leapt down from his perch of a stalactite simultaneously stabbing an unsuspecting murloc on his right between the head and shoulder with his dagger, where a less vile creature might have a neck, while slicing another's throat with his saber on his left. He finished off the not yet mortally wounded murloc to his right by whipping his saber around and stabbing it in the gut, then he kicking it away to release his weapons. Then Zier smiled widely as he glanced at his, still writhing, first two victims.

Zier was then startled as an already dead murloc's body fell up against him with a black arrow that was buried in his back so far that it was sticking farther out of the front than the back. He then looked behind him to see Seiven, a skilled archer of Igleis, an allied house of Narshonebon. Seiven then winked at him just before shooting off another screeching missile from his enchanted bow to hit directly in between the eyes of another pathetic creature.

A larger, more capable murloc pounced in front of Zier snarling, while it waved its jagged sword menacingly. Zier slapped the sword away with his saber than sliced the creature's arm with his dagger. The murloc didn't flinch. Then it brought its heavy sword in for a chop. Zier easily sidestepped the slow move and then he made an upward stab which slipped straight through the murlocs head. Zier was surprised by how easily the saber went through the stupid creature's virtually hollow head.

Chanting calmly Aira raised her hand, and in turn a murloc flew from the cavern floor and into a hanging stalactite. Then she conjured a ball of fire used to throw into a group of already cornered murlocs. She smiled at the disappointed soldiers that were about to obliterate the small group of unfortunate creatures.

Zier stabbed through a murlocs hunched over back then crouched to see the creatures thick, green blood run down to the tip of his saber. Then jerked the blade out and slit the creature's throat. Zier then jumped up and rushed another murloc and slapping its javelin down and slicing its arm off with his saber. Next he cut of the defenseless murloc's other arm, and let it scream and run around until it passed out from blood loss. Suddenly there were two murlocs in front of Zier. He was immediately on the defensive, parrying and countering. He saw a hole in one's defense and took advantage of it, thrusting his dagger into the murloc's chest. It screeched with pain and lunged at him. Zier then blocked it with his saber. Then the other murloc saw its opportunity and thrusted its sword and clipped his adversary's arm. Zier quickly brought his saber up and stabbed the murloc in the throat. After that he executed the other, wounded murloc on the ground by thrusting his saber into its chest.

His chest heaving after the battle, he saw that there were few murlocs left so he wiped his blades clean, and sheathed them. His arm throbbing from the blow; he walked over the dead bodies and through the pools of blood. He saw Aira examining Drezzen's dead figure, noting the clean stab wound in his back, too clean. "Murlocs?" she asked sarcastically. "Four dead… most of the rest injured. We're going back to Azalin." She handed him a red vial, and walked off.

Zier promptly opened the vial and drank it. The red, thick liquid burned through his body. He gasped for air as he watched the muscle fibers in his arm reconnect; and his skin grow back together. After all the soldiers were healed, they looted the four dead Drow, stacked the carcasses, and then burned them.


	4. Chapter 4

Azalin, both beautiful and wondrous, is also a very complex maze of darkness, run by the great houses which are always at war between each other. Each house is run by a powerful matron mother. Azalin is a city run by functional chaos.

Ezris, matron of house Narshonebon, was sitting in her council room, at the top of a high tower, in the house complex. "Thirty, we jumped them; it was executed perfectly." Zier stated matter-of-factly. "And Drezzen … I took care of Drezzen." Matron Ezris smiled menacingly, not out of pride for her son but for the assassination of Drezzen. Drezzen, the weapons master of house Daxtonan, had been a major factor in the struggle between Narshonebon and its rival house Daxtonan.

Kiera, a cleric and the first ranked priestess of house Narshonebon, walked in, her black and red robes with silver lining waving with the house's colors. "Seiven of Igleis has informed me that a patrol has found why the murlocs were intruding on Drow territory." She paused for a moment. "Goblins."

"Goblins are no threat." Zier stated flatly.

"Speak when spoken to." Ezris snapped at him.

"In my years I have never witnessed a horde of goblins such as this." Kiera said.

"How many?" Matron Ezris Demanded.

"Hundreds." Kiera replied. "The forces of Azalin are being called together to take care of the problem. We move out tomorrow."


	5. Chapter 5

A horde of nearly seven hundred goblins made its way through the caverns of the underdark. Little did they know they were walking into a trap. Seiven blew an enchanted whistle which only his archers could hear. From ledges all around the huge cavern arrows flew, felling the outer ranks of goblins.

Aira chanted and brought her arms up then suddenly thrusted them forward, cracking the base of a huge stalactite. Goblins ran and scrambled, but few were quick enough to escape the crash of the enormous rock. She smiled widely as she heard the screeching and yelping. The frightened goblins were not fast to form a defense.

Running down the slope of a ledge Zier saw his first target, he inversed his grip on the dagger. The goblin braced itself and swung its sword at the descending Drow. Zier dropped into a slide and slapped the goblins sword harmlessly wide then stabbed the creature in the belly with his dagger. After passing between the goblins legs Zier swung his saber up and brought it down in an arch piercing the goblin through the back. Zier sprung up into a defensive position with black droplets of blood splattered across his face. The goblins standing near him fell back a step exchanging surprised glances. When a few goblins worked up the nerve to gang up, and face the Drow, Zier was ready. He hit one goblins sword away and kicked in the face, while he brought his dagger up in time to intercept the in coming spear of another. Next he slashed the first goblins gut open letting its entrails fall free. Then he spun around stabbing the other goblin through the side puncturing both of its lungs. Zier then executed the already gutted goblin, by stabbing it through its small, cold heart with his dagger.

Seiven loosed a black arrow; it flew through the air and struck a goblin in the chest, passing straight through. He then jumped from the ledge he was standing on and drew two short swords. He landed on the back of an unsuspecting goblin and stabbed it on either side of the neck; he flipped off of its back before it ever hit the ground. He next hit a goblin that facing away from him in the back of the head with the hilt of his short sword; he then grabbed its hair holding the unconscious creatures head up to swing with his other sword, decapitating it.

A goblin saw what it thought to be an easy target. It wasn't. The goblin made a move toward the skinny Drow female. Aira raised her hand while muttering a few indistinguishable words then made a fist. The goblin felt an excruciating pain and heard a loud cracking sound as its skull collapsed around its brain. Suddenly another rushed her; she had no time or mental capacity at this point to chant another spell. So she grabbed her mace off of her belt and hit the goblin in the face. The enchanted Drow weapon burned the flesh off of the goblin's face. The goblin was in too much pain to react. She hit it again on the top of the head and then in the throat. The mace seared through the creature's jugular vain and it soon bled to death.

Zier saw his next target. He put his hand in his boot and produced a throwing knife, this he used to throw and hit his target goblin in the back. It squealed with agony. Zier was upon it instantly stabbing it multiple times in the back with both weapons. Zier heard rapid, heavy footsteps behind him. He turned around and thrust his dagger out, stabbing the goblin in the chest; he then whipped his saber around and decapitated the vile creature.

Seiven grabbed a goblin and threw it into another. The goblins fell to the ground, one on top of the other. Seiven then shot an arrow, with his masterful accuracy pinning one and then other. He chuckled at the sight of the wiggling bodies; then he shot them again.

Zier was surrounded by three goblins. He dropped down and tripped two on his right then sliced the foot off of the one on his left. Next he sprung on the two that he tripped stabbing them both simultaneously. Then he turned around and slit the throat of the screaming goblin with only one foot. Another goblin charged Zier, and made a jab for his head. Zier deflected it with his dagger and ducked. It came in with a lower stab. Zier crossed his blades together and caught the goblin's sword in mid thrust; then he brought his foot up between his arms kicking the goblin in the face. Then Zier impaled it through the abdomen and watched as his saber come out the other end coated in black blood. Zier saw another coming at him from the right and so he hit the goblins spear out of its hands with the flat of his dagger. Then Zier stabbed it under the arm with his saber. Next, he spun around and stabbed it in the face, right in the face.

Zier's face turned pale when he heard heavy, ground shaking footsteps. Goblins everywhere were running. Zier stood his ground. The horrendous troll entered the cavern; his massive arms swinging, knocking away petrified goblins with every step. Archers tried vainly to shoot the troll down for their arrows would not penetrate the troll's thick skin. The troll saw the elf standing there undaunted and was enraged. Zier stood with an unrelenting fire in his eyes. The troll charged and pounded its giant fist. Zier watched the fist fly through the air; he didn't move as the fist slammed down to the rock less than a foot away from him. The troll screamed with outrage for the lack of fear in the small elf. Zier ran forward; his blades flying out wide, both hitting their marks on the trolls legs. The troll, annoyed by the Drow, stomped its feet trying to kill the nuisance. Zier sprinted out from under the abominable tantrum. Seiven now saw the troll and drew his bow; pulling his bow as far as it would go, he let the arrow loose. The arrow soared through the air and hit the troll in the back, between the shoulders. The troll howled in agony; and shot a fist out at Zier, crushing a rather large boulder. Zier dodged the rock-like fist and jumped onto the troll's arm. He ran up to jump on the troll's back. Here he threw his arms around the monster's neck and crossed his blades, raising the troll's head and exposing its neck. Seiven took advantage of this opportunity to loose his arrow into the troll's neck. The troll let out a loud moan and fell back to crash down on the cavern floor choking and sputtering. Its death face was that of great agony. Zier stood up after jumping down from the falling monster, the fires in his eyes still raging.


End file.
